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The land on which Blue Mountain Minerals is situated has had a long tradition of mining activity. It first began to attract gold prospectors in the spring of 1850 following the opening of placer mines at nearby Columbia in late March of that year. While the area was not as productive for placer gold as was the Columbia basin to the south, the gravel deposits, overlaying limestone bedrock, still drew a great deal of attention during the years from 1850 to 1858.
The limestone and marble quarrying industry of Tuolumne County probably dates back to the early 1850’s. An early example of this mining was the contribution of a marble block to the monument honoring George Washington. A block of marble four feet long, two feet wide and eight inches think was cut and adorned with quartz gold specimens. At Columbia’s 1857 Fourth of July parade the finished Washington Monument block was given a place of honor and then exhibited at the California State Fair held in Stockton while it was en route to Washington D.C. The block’s trip was interrupted when the clipper ship the Flying Dutchman that was carrying it sank. In 1860, a salvage firm raised the ship’s cargo and the marble block was sent on to the monument committee. However, for some unknown reason, it was never incorporated into the obelisk.
On March 9, 1861, The Tuolumne Courier revealed the discovery of a new marble outcropping. This is the deposit currently being mined by Blue Mountain Minerals. One observer visited the quarry and expressed the belief that there was enough marble to supply the whole Union with marble for every purpose for ages to come. In 1862, the new quarry commenced operations. The quarry was in continuous operation until 1887 when the water wheel broke and was not repaired and all production ceased.
In 1891, The Columbia Marble Company was formed. Its business increased substantially after the April 18, 1906 earthquake which devastated San Francisco. The local marble quarry provided much needed marble to help the immense amount of reconstruction required in the Bay Area.
1928 marked the last “good year” for marble production at the quarry. In 1929 the “Great Depression” and its effects soon began to be reflected by a lack of orders, however business went on sporadically. In 1942, the property was deeded to the United States Lime Corporation.
Under the ownership of United States Lime Corporation the location was mined for the production of lime. Lime is made from naturally occurring limestone by heating the rock to drive off carbon dioxide. Material was mined and then transported to a kiln on Lime Kiln Road, south of Sonora. In 1958, the operation was transferred to the Flintkote Company. In the early 1990’s the Sonora lime kiln was shut down.
In 1983, an entrepreneur identified and later began initial development of the Marble Quarry Road site that now constitutes the Blue Mountain Minerals’ main mineral reserves. The focus of this company was to produce material for the glass, animal feed, roofing, and electrical power industries. This entrepreneur formed a company called Blue Mountain Quarries that, due to a lack of capital, failed. In 1986 the entrepreneur was forced to put his operation into bankruptcy.
In 1987, Blue Mountain Minerals, (a California limited partnership) was formed to purchase the assets of the quarry out of bankruptcy. This company was headed by an affiliate of the Bechtel Company, the international engineering and construction company. Operations under new ownership began in 1988, but were not fully functional until late 1991. The new management team carried out a core-drilling program to prove enough reserves to justify the redesign of the existing processing facility, and to add much needed product storage capacity. In addition, the implementation of improved management and engineering practices at the processing facility resulted in increases in throughput and total processing capacity.
The Portola Company became involved in August of 1994 when it purchased the assets of Blue Mountain Minerals. At that time, the Portola Company rebuilt the existing processing plant, including a comprehensive retooling of the crushing, screening and classification equipment. The plant overhaul resulted in improvement in throughput and reliability. In addition, final product storage capacity was increased to over 11,000 tons, the largest amount of any limestone producer in California. Substantial improvements were also made to make the plant more environmentally friendly.
NOW:
Currently Blue Mountain Minerals employs over sixty individuals and is the largest supplier of limestone products in Northern California.
